Capitals Franchise: Some Signings and Some Waiting

BREAKING: Capitals Sign Chandler Stephenson

In the past couple of days the Washington Capitals (and Hershey Bears) have re-signed a few of their players. Meanwhile, we know that the Caps tendered qualifying offers to restricted free agents Phillip Grubauer, Andre Burakovsky, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov. We are waiting and waiting to hear that these fellows are all locked up.

The NHL Free Agency begins 1 July. Players must have been provided with a qualifying offer to enable the team to continue to negotiate the terms of a new contract. Those not receiving qualifying offers become unrestricted free agents (UFA) and can negotiate with anyone (including their home team) for a new contract. Those with qualifying offers may accept the offer, reject the offer, or head into arbitration to try and get a better deal.

TJ Oshie is the first of the players signed last week. He inked an eight-year $46 million agreement with an annual salary cap hit of $5.75 million.

Bob McKenzie (TSN) reported that Brett Connolly – who we understand from the Caps was not given a qualifying offer – signed a “two-year deal with on AAV of $1.5 million per year.” Although Spotac has the details fed into their list of Capitals contracts, the organization has yet to officially announce the contract.

The Caps have five UFAs who most likely will not return to the Capitals next season, mostly because there just isn’t enough money to go around. There are lots of rumors circulating about Williams, Alzner, and Shattenkirk but nothing definitive yet. Most frequently we are hearing interest from the Leafs and Habs.

Centers Dan Winnik and Paul Carey

Right Wing Justin Williams

Defensemen Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie the Capitals have agreed to terms with Connolly on a two-year contract that will pay him an average annual salary of $1.5 million per season.

The Caps have signed the following players with the Bears:

Chris Bourque (One Year),

Pheonix Copley (Two Years),

Christian Djoos (Two Years)

Chandler Stephenson (Two Years)

Nathan Walker (Two Years)

Bears Coach Troy Mann has suggested that Walker and Stephenson are close to playing for the NHL.

These players do not yet have contracts. We have heard that Stan Galiev does not intend to return to play in the for the Caps this year and was actually placed on the available list to Vegas. .

The Caps reportedly tendered qualify offers to Liam O’Brien and Travis Boyd, although we have yet to see a contract.

We’ll keep watching to see what happens. We are pretty confident that the RFA’s will be locked down as soon as General Manager Brian MacLellan and the team of lawyers settle on terms that fit the very tight salary cap. And lets’ not forget that there are some intriguing young players showing their stuff at development camp who could find themselves at Hershey when players move up to DC and the big league.